Universities warn foreign interference measures must be 'carefully calibrated' Universities warn foreign interference measures must be 'carefully calibrated' Normal text size Advertisement Australia's elite research universities have warned that partnerships with Chinese institutions, including those which have led to world-leading research developments, could be jeopardised if the Morrison government fails to carefully calibrate foreign interference measures. The Group of Eight, which represents the eight universities that account for 70 per cent of academic research, says the collaboration of University of Sydney professor Edward Holmes in the first genome sequencing of COVID-19 – a project involving a consortium of Chinese universities and institutions – is a key example of research that "might not have occurred" under stricter policy settings.